Classes

AWS Key Management Service (AWS KMS) is an encryption and key management web service.
This guide describes the AWS KMS operations that you can call programmatically. For
general information about AWS KMS, see the AWS
Key Management Service Developer Guide.

AWS provides SDKs that consist of libraries and sample code for various programming
languages and platforms (Java, Ruby, .Net, iOS, Android, etc.). The SDKs provide a
convenient way to create programmatic access to AWS KMS and other AWS services. For
example, the SDKs take care of tasks such as signing requests (see below), managing
errors, and retrying requests automatically. For more information about the AWS SDKs,
including how to download and install them, see Tools
for Amazon Web Services.

We recommend that you use the AWS SDKs to make programmatic API calls to AWS KMS.

Clients must support TLS (Transport Layer Security) 1.0. We recommend TLS 1.2. Clients
must also support cipher suites with Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS) such as Ephemeral
Diffie-Hellman (DHE) or Elliptic Curve Ephemeral Diffie-Hellman (ECDHE). Most modern
systems such as Java 7 and later support these modes.

Signing Requests

Requests must be signed by using an access key ID and a secret access key. We strongly
recommend that you do not use your AWS account (root) access key ID and secret
key for everyday work with AWS KMS. Instead, use the access key ID and secret access
key for an IAM user, or you can use the AWS Security Token Service to generate temporary
security credentials that you can use to sign requests.

AWS KMS supports AWS CloudTrail, a service that logs AWS API calls and related events
for your AWS account and delivers them to an Amazon S3 bucket that you specify. By
using the information collected by CloudTrail, you can determine what requests were
made to AWS KMS, who made the request, when it was made, and so on. To learn more
about CloudTrail, including how to turn it on and find your log files, see the AWS CloudTrail User
Guide.

Additional Resources

For more information about credentials and request signing, see the following:

AWS
Security Credentials - This topic provides general information about the types
of credentials used for accessing AWS.

Of the APIs discussed in this guide, the following will prove the most useful for
most applications. You will likely perform actions other than these, such as creating
keys and assigning policies, by using the console.

Interfaces

AWS Key Management Service (AWS KMS) is an encryption and key management web service.
This guide describes the AWS KMS operations that you can call programmatically. For
general information about AWS KMS, see the AWS
Key Management Service Developer Guide.

AWS provides SDKs that consist of libraries and sample code for various programming
languages and platforms (Java, Ruby, .Net, iOS, Android, etc.). The SDKs provide a
convenient way to create programmatic access to AWS KMS and other AWS services. For
example, the SDKs take care of tasks such as signing requests (see below), managing
errors, and retrying requests automatically. For more information about the AWS SDKs,
including how to download and install them, see Tools
for Amazon Web Services.

We recommend that you use the AWS SDKs to make programmatic API calls to AWS KMS.

Clients must support TLS (Transport Layer Security) 1.0. We recommend TLS 1.2. Clients
must also support cipher suites with Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS) such as Ephemeral
Diffie-Hellman (DHE) or Elliptic Curve Ephemeral Diffie-Hellman (ECDHE). Most modern
systems such as Java 7 and later support these modes.

Signing Requests

Requests must be signed by using an access key ID and a secret access key. We strongly
recommend that you do not use your AWS account (root) access key ID and secret
key for everyday work with AWS KMS. Instead, use the access key ID and secret access
key for an IAM user, or you can use the AWS Security Token Service to generate temporary
security credentials that you can use to sign requests.

AWS KMS supports AWS CloudTrail, a service that logs AWS API calls and related events
for your AWS account and delivers them to an Amazon S3 bucket that you specify. By
using the information collected by CloudTrail, you can determine what requests were
made to AWS KMS, who made the request, when it was made, and so on. To learn more
about CloudTrail, including how to turn it on and find your log files, see the AWS CloudTrail User
Guide.

Additional Resources

For more information about credentials and request signing, see the following:

AWS
Security Credentials - This topic provides general information about the types
of credentials used for accessing AWS.

Of the APIs discussed in this guide, the following will prove the most useful for
most applications. You will likely perform actions other than these, such as creating
keys and assigning policies, by using the console.